Feet Firmly On The Ground
by dorkoriffic
Summary: Parallel story with "Head In The Clouds". Hogwarts during book seven. PadmaxBlaise; LunaxNeville; Colin CreeveyxOC
1. Chapter 1

Padma Patil frowned and stared at the library book sitting on the table in front of her. She had been studying so long that her eyes weren't focusing right anymore, and her mind just couldn't absorb information well.

She sighed and glanced out the window. Outside, it was a pristine October day, leaves spiraling off the trees and onto the ground. Padma glanced at her watch: there was time to go hang out by the lake. She had finished nearly all her homework, after all.

She left the library with a nod of farewell to the shriveled Madam Pince, who seemed to have a bit of a soft spot for Padma. She used the library more than anybody else besides Hermione Granger, who was gone this year anyway.

"Parvati!" she heard someone cry from behind as she strolled out onto the grass. "Hey! PARVATI!"

Padma sighed. She hated it when people got her and her twin mixed up. "I'm Padma-" she started to say, turning around, but she realized with a flash of embarrassment that it truly was somebody looking for Parvati. Her sister was sitting under a large oak tree gossiping with Lavender Brown and giggling uncontrollably.

She continued on her walk to the lake. She sat and pulled off her shoes and socks, dangling her feet into the shockingly cold water. Padma looked at her reflection in the gently rippling water. How was it possible for one twin - identical twin, at that - to be so much prettier than the other?

Padma knew that wasn't really true, of course. Parvati had told her it was just makeup, but somehow every time Padma tried such things she only ended looking like a Parvati clone or a clown. She was great at putting it on other people, but on herself? Not a chance.

A dark shadow fell over her from behind. Padma twisted around, the movement sending small waves skittering across the surface of the lake.

"Zabini?" she said in an incredulous, sneering tone. "What, all your Slytherin friends in detention today?"

"Oh, please." he drawled, sitting down next to her. "The Carrows are in control now. What would we get detention for?"

The girl felt an uncontrollable urge to smack him upside the head. "Oh, shut up and leave me alone!" she snapped.

"Sorry, no can do." Blaise smirked.

"Why not?" Padma queried sharply.

"Well, I'm bored, see."

"Oh, so I'm your entertainment for the moment!" Padma countered harshly. "Just go away!"

"No."

Padma frowned. She knew that there was nothing she could do to make him do anything until he decided to himself. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, hoping it would supply her with some patience.

It didn't.

"Bloody Slytherins..." she muttered to herself. "Think they're better than everybody else, with their stupid snakes and their stupid pureblood mania and their pathetic obsession with power..."

Zabini raised a dark eyebrow. "My, my, Patil. You should learn to treat your peers with more respect than that."

"If you want respect, go hang out with your Slytherin cronies." Padma retorted.

"Yeah, I don't think so." Zabini said dismissively. "They're too stupid."

"Stupid?" Padma laughed sarcastically. "No, really? I always thought Crabbe and Goyle were true geniuses at heart. And it took you, what, seven years to figure out that between them, they have the approximate IQ of a doughnut? Hate to break it to you, Blaise my old buddy, but that doesn't bode well for your own mental capacity!"

Zabini just smiled smugly. "I knew you had a personality in their somewhere."

"What?" Padma asked, and then shook her head. "Never mind! I don't want to talk to you."

"Well, I want to talk to you and that's what matters."

The Ravenclaw gasped in outrage. "What? How is THAT what matters?"

"Well, see, I am Blaise Zabini." he said, as if that explained everything. "I want to talk to you, and so I'm going to talk to you. And you really can't stop me."

Padma narrowed her eyes at him in complete and utter rage. "Oh," she said, voice shaking with pure outrage. "I think I can stop you."

And with that, she reached out and shoved Blaise Zabini, THE Blaise Zabini, into the lake.

Padma just stood there, mouth agape with the thought of what she had done. Then she laughed. Picking up her shoes, she ran barefoot back to Ravenclaw dorm, giggling hysterically to herself all the way.

Right before she reentered the castle, she turned back for one last look at the Slytherin. He was climbing out of the lake, clothes sodden, dark hair dripping. Theodore Nott was standing next to him, laughing at Zabini's expense, oblivious of the death glare his supposed friend was shooting him.

The seventeen year old girl smiled. "Hah!" she was still murmuring as she entered the airy Ravenclaw common room. "Served him right!"

Padma's best friend, Lisa Turpin, smiled wryly at the raven haired girl as she entered the common room. "What served who right?" She asked with a mischievous smile.

"Oh, nothing." Padma replied airily. "Just Zabini."

"That idiot of a Slytherin?" Lisa asked with a glint of curiosity in her chocolatey brown eyes. "What about him?"

"I think he's fairly smart academically," Padma told her disjointedly. "Just a hopeless prat otherwise. And nothing too important about him. I just pushed him into the lake."

Lisa's mouth fell open in disbelief. "No."

"Yes!" Padma replied.

"NO!" Lisa repeated, this time with a high pitched squeal.

"Please never make that noise again." she pleaded with a wince. "And YES!" Padma said, and bent over to launch into another fit of uncontrollable laughter. After she finally recovered from her hysteria, she took a deep breath.

"Okay." she said, shaping her face into a completely blank mask. "I'm good now."

Lisa shook her head. "How do you do that?"

"Do what?" Padma asked innocently.

"Make your face go all boring and creepy like that."

"I concentrate hard and think of-of-"

Lisa had started making stupid faces in hopes of bringing a real expression back to Padma's face. It worked.

"Stop that!" she insisted as her face split into a wide grin. "Aw, you made me lose it!"

"That's my job." Lisa said. "Now do tell."

"Well, it all started when he just came and sat down next to me." Padma launched enthusiastically into her story.

An important fact about Ravenclaws: they have a lot more fun than you think they do.

Seriously. In public, they seemed dry, studious, and quiet. But though they had a reputation for being a lot of boring geniuses, in reality they were pranksters, jokers, musicians (all right, most of Hogwarts did know about that one), and they threw great parties. They had the creativity to come up with great ideas and the brains to pull them off.

Most of the truly great pranks were actually committed by Ravenclaws. Though all the most notable individual pranksters came from Gryffindor, like the Marauders and the Weasley twins, the Ravenclaws were responsible for the Great Infiltration of 1977. James Potter himself actually received the credit for sneaking all forty four nifflers and seventeen goats into the Slytherin common room, which both he and the Ravenclaws were grateful for. James was grateful because he thought it would give him some extra pranking glory, the Ravenclaws were grateful because it meant that they wouldn't lose any study time in detention.

So it was for this reason that Lisa looked at her watch and sighed. "Sorry, Padma, but I have to go. Phase Two of Operation Traumatize Nott prank needs to be put into action immediately, or it'll lose all effectiveness."

"Okay." Padma said. "Good luck! Scare the bloody Slytherin for me!"

"Will do." Lisa promised, then cast a Disillusionment charm over herself and left.

Padma settled down into one of the comfortable chairs that filled the common room and began reading ahead in her Potions textbook. Last year, the older Ravenclaws had warned her that she would need plenty of practice to get this particular concept down.

Padma quite liked Potions. Parvati was great with Divination, but her twin considered the subject to be a load of crap. Padma liked Potions because there was a strict formula to follow, but certain allowances and improvements could be made within that formula as long as they followed a few basic rules.

Back before they went to Hogwarts, the Patil's parents had sent them to a Muggle school, saying that it would teach them basic skills they needed, such as math, reading and writing. It also allowed them to fit in well with Muggles, a talent that both their parents lacked.

Both of the twins greatly enjoyed the experience. Parvati liked it because she made lots of good friends that she had kept her whole life. Padma liked it because she simply liked learning. Her favorite subject was math _**(A/N: Wait, you say maths in England, don't you?)**_. She figured that was why she liked Arithmancy and Potions so much. There was always a set way to find the right answer, but you could come up with different answers as long as you obeyed the rules. Besides, Potions was a lot like math, only using real, substantial ingredients instead of the more abstract numbers.

Luna Lovegood walked into the room, dragging a tearful Hufflepuff that Padma vaguely recognized, Mary or Megan or Mandy, something like that. Padma had become closer to Luna since school had started and some of her other friends had left. Luna was, well, interesting, to say the least. She had very unique opinions and wasn't shy at all about sharing them. She had a particular affinity for magical animals, and Padma enjoyed listening to the facts Luna shared with her. She had a feeling they were mostly invented, but she didn't care much. They were fascinating and good for a laugh, and that's all that really mattered.

"Hey!" Padma saw Michael Corner frown. "Luna, you brought a Hufflepuff back with you. She's not supposed to be here."

Padma rolled her eyes. That Michael; always such a stickler for the rules. The only time she'd ever seen him have an actual opinion and break the rules was back in fifth year, when he had joined the DA only after extreme coercion from his then-girlfriend, Ginny Weasley. Of course, he had joined again this year, so maybe he wasn't ALL bad, but still! He needed to loosen up a bit, Padma decided.

She saw Luna force a smile to her face, and grinned inwardly. Anything that Luna needed a fake smile to pull off was guaranteed to be good. "Michael," Luna began, "I'm so sorry to hear about the colony of nargles that has obviously made it's home inside your cranium. I mean, I can't think of any other reason for you to make a comment like that..."

Michael shut up after that, though not without an exaggerated roll of his eyes in Luna's direction.

Luna brought the Hufflepuff over to Padma, who took one look at the tearstained face of the younger girl then dragged her upstairs to her dorm. "Your name is Margaret, right?" she asked with an internal plea that she had guessed it right.

"Marguerite, actually." said the small, dark haired girl. "My mother's French. But call me Maggie. Please."

Padma smirked. She could see the desperation that came only with the desire to replace a humiliating name with a more normal name. Marguerite wasn't at all bad as far as things went, but she could still sympathize. Unfortunately, the best nicknames Padma and Parvati had come up with so far were Paddy and Mama, both of which were infinitely worse than the original name. Parvati was the lucky one, Padma liked her own name fine enough. But her middle name? Well, that was a completely different story.

"Sure." she said. "So," she made a split second decision, "I think I'm going to give both you and Luna makeovers."

"What?!" Both the blonde Ravenclaw and the dark haired Hufflepuff looked like their eyes were about to fall out of their heads.

Padma sighed. "I've learned from Parvati that one of the most therapeutic experiences is having someone give you a makeover. Maggie, you look like you need cheering up. And Luna, well, you don't know much about giving makeovers so you're going to receive one instead."

Luna smiled. "I'm cool with that." she said dreamily-not that Luna ever said things any other way. "It's a Friday, so we can stay up late. Just one condition – I get to choose the music."

"I can live with that." Padma agreed cheerfully. Then a bad bad memory came into her mind. "Just-" she said pleadingly, "No boy bands, please?"

"Of course not!" Luna said, obviously insulted. "I thought you were pureblood, anyway – how do you know about boy bands?"

"Lavender, who's Muggleborn, got Parvati into the Backstreet Boys and we had to listen to a Backstreet Boys marathon all summer vacation, punctuated only by brief bursts of N'Sync." Padma shuddered at the horrid memory.

"Poor you." Maggie said sympathetically. By then she was cheering up a bit. "I'm in for the plan, though."

"Great." Padma said. "Now sit here."

Luna started rummaging around in her bag, pulling out something that looked vaguely similar to an ensorcelled CD player.

Padma heard some fairly calm music start playing. She thought that she rather liked it; it was, at least, much better than any Muggle music she had heard before.

The three girls spent quite a while just sitting and talking. Padma was surprised at how well she got along with the youngest member of their trio. Somehow the subject was changed to an upcoming Halloween ball that the school would be having.

"Why?" Luna asked. "They've never had a ball before. Why start now?"

Padma sighed. "Well, the official reason is to celebrate a holiday that holds great significance for witches and wizards. But everyone knows that the Carrows are starting it to celebrate the day You-Know-Who killed Harry Potter's parents."

"They are aware that it's also the day Harry Potter beat You-Know-Who, correct?" Maggie asked.

"I'm guessing they don't like to dwell on that bit." Padma said.

"Hey!" Luna said, her silver eyes holding a decidedly undreamy look of eagerness. "Why doesn't the DA throw a 'Harry Beat Moldy Voldy Once And He Can Do It Again' celebration a few weeks after? We'll use the Room of Requirement and make it Carrow-proof like we do for DA meetings."

"Terrific idea." Padma agreed, and Maggie nodded acquiescence. "So, anyway, the point is, are either of you going with anybody?"

And then the three spent forever just talking about superficial topics. _It was great to just forget about the war going on and talk about who's asking who the the ball_, thought Padma. _It's great to be able to act my age for once._

**XXX**

I own nothing, I swear. Please Review!


	2. Chapter 2

"Shut UP, Zabini!"

"Why should I?" the Slytherin said cockily.

"Because I said so." Padma replied shortly, burying her face in her books. The two were sitting the schools library, trying to get ahead on homework before the Halloween dance that would be happening later that week. Or, at least, Padma was working. Zabini was merely sitting there and tormenting Padma as she tried to do her homework.

"Oh, no, I'm sorry." he said with an over-dramatic wave of his arms. "You're not my mom, see, and only moms get to use THAT line."

Padma stuck her tongue out at him. "Well, I am older than you." she pointed out. "That should count for something."

He huffed in irritation. "Only by two weeks!" he protested. "It barely counts, really!"

"I'm still older." Padma replied absentmindedly, poring over an especially interesting passage in her Potions book. "So shut up."

"You shut up." Blaise said childishly.

Padma snickered. "Did you really just say that?"

"Um, yes?"

She tried and failed to stifle her laughter. Madame Pince shot the pair a warning look, and Padma had to shove her fist into her mouth to stop the hysteric chuckles from escaping.

"What is it now?" Zabini said, in a voice that made it seem as though he was the one being wronged.

Padma snorted, then plastered her innocent look all over her face. "I'm quite sure I have no idea what you're talking about."

"I'm quite sure you don't." he said drily. Then he blinked. "Wait. I don't even know what I'm talking about."

Padma frowned in contemplation. "Nothing important, I don't think."

During the two weeks or so since Padma had shoved the arrogant Slytherin into the lake, the two had clumsily constructed some sort of friendship. Blaise had followed Padma around for days on end; pestering her during every waking moment and startling her at inopportune moments. After Padma had slapped him twice in the face, kicked him three times in the ankle, and ruined four potions when he sneaked up behind her and scared her by making bizarre noises. Eventually, she couldn't take the strain anymore and snapped.

"What is your PROBLEM?" she had screamed at him in frustration, even throwing a few textbooks at his head in her sheer rage. "Why won't you just leave me alone, you sadistic-"

Thankfully for the poor, innocent little firsties looking on, it was at this moment that Zabini had chosen to place his hand over Padma's mouth; otherwise, the foul language Padma was planning on using would have sullied their vocabularies for aeons.

"I'm bothering you because-" Zabini began, and then looked down at the audience of younger students that was intently watching their argument. "Look, can we go somewhere else? It's kind of confidential."

Padma had snorted rather inelegantly. "You want me, Padma Patil, a Ravenclaw self-proclaimed 'blood traitor' to go somewhere more confidential with a Slytherin, in a time where Dark curses are not only allowed but ENCOURAGED? Are you out of you goddamn MIND?"

Zabini sighed. "Would you PLEASE watch your language? There are young children about!"

"You've used UNFORGIVABLE CURSES on those same young children, and yet you worry that I'm using IMPROPER LANGUAGE around them?" Padma's left eye was twitching.

"Um.....yes?" he said cooly. "Now, come along." He grabbed her by the upper arm, and dragged her up a flight of stairs. Though Padma was quite strong from a three-year stint as Chaser on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, she was still barely five foot four and so was no match for Zabini, who was well over six feet.

He had pulled her all the way to the Room of Requirement, where he paced about. "Let's see..." he mumbled. "First, I need Silencing Charms....Anti-Trespasser Wards.....Nobody, and I mean NOBODY should be able to get in....I'd like, also, the walls to be blue, because I like blue, and I want.....some pretzels. Yeah, pretzels!"

A door appeared in the wall in front of the two seventh years, and they entered.

Padma's mouth dropped open as she saw what Blaise had created. The walls were striped with hundreds of shades of blue, and bowls filled to the brim with all kinds of pretzels littered the floor. The wards the Room had constructed for them were so powerful Padma could see them glittering even without mage-sight.

"Wow." she said initially, and then smirked. "So....pretzels?"

Zabini rolled his eyes. "I meant like one or two!" he had protested. " I didn't expect this room to come up with so MANY!"

"Sure, sure..." Padma said teasingly, and took a bite from one of the many pretzels lying about. "Mmm..." she sighed happily. "Cheeeeeesy...."

The tall, dark Slytherin just stared at her.

"So, down to business." she forced out around her mouthful of pretzel. "Why did you follow me around?"

"Because I want to be your friend." Zabini said. Padma looked at the Sneakoscope the Room had conjured upon her request. It was motionless.

"Why do you want to be my friend? I thought you were a Slytherin."

"I am."

"So....What, are you bailing on your serpentine heritage?"

Zabini scowled. "Of course not. We're supposed to be 'cunning' and 'ambitious' and 'power-hungry', right?"

"Right..."

"Well, think of those people in Slytherin now. Are they cunning? How about ambitious?"

"No. Not really. They're kind of stupid, in fact."

Zabini smiled triumphantly. "Exactly! Slytherin used to be powerful! It used to be a house of HONOR, and now what?"

Padma seemed to understand where he was going with this. "It's looked down upon as being filled with evil wizards. Nobody respects Slytherins, at least not for the right reason; everybody merely fear them. Slytherin used to be great, and now it's fallen so far..."

Blaise nodded approvingly. "You could have been a Slytherin yourself, you know." he pointed out. "You've got the cunning bit down."

"The hat wanted to put me there." Padma said. This was one of her greatest secrets, one she had never told even her twin sister. There was just something about this boy that made her want to tell him everything. "But I didn't want to be there, because of the whole 'dark' hangup. I want power, but I don't want it all for myself, so the hat figured that I'd have just as much luck in Ravenclaw."

Zabini whistled. "Have you ever considered a career in politics?"

"No, I don't want THAT kind of power." she said with a sigh. "I want power to help myself and others. I'm planning to be a Healer, if you must know. But we're not here to talk about my career plans! We're here to talk about your stalking habits!"

"That sounded really, really bad the way you phrased it. I do not have 'stalking habits'."

"You HAVE been stalking me."

"Yes, but only because I've seen that you don't judge people, and I know you're in the new DA-"

Padma's paled. Zabini ignored her.

"And I wanted to get into that and HELP, so I figured you'd be the best link."

"How do you know I'm in the DA?" Padma asked urgently. "HOW?"

"I-well-" Zabini flushed a deep maroon. "I've been watching you. Observing you, more like."

Padma just looked at him. Then she smirked. "You are SO a stalker."

"I SO am not!" he protested.

"Are too."

"Am not!"

"Are TOO!"

"AM NOT!"

Their conversation continued in this venue for quite a bit, and so it had been determined by the time the pair left the Room of Requirement that they would try being friends for a bit.

* * *

Yes, I know that food is exempt from the laws of transfiguration and so the room couldn't possibly have conjured pretzels. I also don't care. I don't own ANYTHING AT ALL, got it? Please review, and MERRY CHRISTMAS!


	3. Chapter 3

Well, to all my nonexistent readers, I don't own a THING except maybe Maggie, and maybe not even her, so don't sue me, okay?

Padma sighed irritatedly. "Did you really have to be so DRAMATIC?"

Zabini smirked. "Drama is my forte."

"Trust me, I know." She shuddered. "But really-you made SUCH a scene at that dance! Do you REALLY think it was necessary to be so...."

"Over the top?"

"Well, yes. That works just fine."

"Yes."

Padma blinked. "Yes?"

"Yes, it was necessary."

"WHY, pray tell?I'd prefer to keep the details of my personal life OUT of the Hogwarts gossip chain."

Zabini just smirked in that exasperating way of his again. "Would you tell your sister?"

"Yes..."

"And would she tell Lavender?"

"Yes."

"And would Lavender tell the entire school?"

Padma narrowed her eyes at him. "Just. Shut. Up."

He leaned back in his chair. "You know, Padma, I AM your boyfriend. I'd think you'd be acting a tad more politely to me, but..."

"I can't help it if you provoke me!" Padma replied heatedly.

"Look, all I wanted was a straight answer." Blaise said, trying to imitate a stern teacher and failing.

"I-" Padma began, and then stopped. "Would you look at them? It's sickening."

"What is?" Zabini asked cluelessly, then followed her gaze. "Oh. That. Yes, yes it is."

"They're worse than Ron and Lavender were last year!" Padma snorted. "Well, not quite. They do more public snogging, but at least they don't have pet names for each other. And Neville doesn't QUITE look like he's eating Luna's face."

"Still." Zabini said in a mock sober voice. "This is a LIBRARY. They should have more respect for those of us who are trying to study!"

"We're studying?" Padma said, confused.

"Well, we're looking up defensive spells for you-know-what." Zabini amended.

"Oh! It didn't much look like that."

"Well, I found them all and now I'm just talking to you and snogging you whenever Madame Pince isn't looking."

Padma snickered. "Yeah, good point! How come she hasn't got them yet? They've been at it for ten minutes at LEAST, and normally she would have kicked them out long ago."

"She approves of their relationship." Zabini said as if that explained everything. Which it did. "She likes playing matchmaker between the students. Remember in fourth year, when she tried to get Hermione Granger together with Dennis Creevey, but Krum kept getting mad at the little firsty?"

"THAT'S what was going on? I thought Krum just had serious anger management issues. Beating up some poor eleven year old..." Padma said incredulously. "Did she not realize the age difference or something? You'd think she'd pick up on it, he's so tremendously short..."

"So is she." Zabini pointed out.

"Yes, but not THAT short! I swear, I doubt he's even five feet tall nowadays. Back then? I'd wager ten galleons that he was under four feet six." Padma said dismissively. "And the idea of Madame Pince playing matchmaker is..."

"Revolting?" he suggested.

"Yes. Hey, have rumors about her and Filch ever been confirmed?"

Zabini's eye twitched. "Not formally, but I can say that once I walked in on the two of them having a, ah, PRIVATE rendezvous in the trophy room. Not a sight I relish having permanently imprinted upon my retinas."

"Her...And FILCH? Really?" Padma looked nauseous. "I thought it was just Harry being stupid...OH! I wonder if he saw something!"

"I feel bad for Potter if so." Zabini looked even more queasy than his girlfriend. "Oh, that sight...I can't look at Filch again without wanting to retch..."

"Merlin! Remind me to not ASK these dreadful questions anymore!" Padma said. "Look, let's get out of here...I see Madame Pince herself coming our way and I can't face her right now without being sick..."

"Me neither!" Blaise agreed. "Here, let me copy down these curses....ok, got em. Shall we go?"

"Of course." Padma said. The two exited the library with one last glance at Luna and Neville. "Did they even come up for air?" she asked skeptically.

"I don't believe so." Zabini said. "Here-shall we see if we can break their record?"

And with that, they endeavored to do so right in the middle of a staircase and were still there when Luna and Neville came by a bit later.

"They're worse than Ron and Lavender were last year!" Neville marveled.

"Well, to be fair, they haven't given each other stupid nicknames. Still....did they even come up for air?" Luna asked.

"No. I don't think so." Neville said. "Hey! Zabini!" He tapped his newfound Slytherin ally on the shoulder. "Do you have the curses I asked for?"

"Right here." the darkhaired boy replied, after removing his face from Padma's. He pulled the folded parchment out of his pocket and thrust it at Neville. "Now...if you don't mind?"

"No, please continue." Neville said with a mock bow, and together they left. "Don't be late for the DA meeting tonight!" he called back.

"Don't worry!" Padma said breathlessly. "We won't!"


End file.
